In this image posted on a militant website by Islamic State on July 3, a man is shown smashing archaeological pieces from the ancient site of Palmyra, Syria. The image has been verified and is consistent with reporting by the Associated Press.

In this image posted on a militant website by Islamic State on July 3, a man is shown smashing archaeological pieces from the ancient site of Palmyra, Syria. The image has been verified and is consistent with reporting by the Associated Press.

The future does not bode well for the ancient archaeological site of Palmyra in Syria -- or any other archaeological sites within reach of Islamic State militants.

Images released over the last two days by militants in the region show a man smashing statues that are purported to have come from Palmyra. Also reputedly destroyed is the Lion of al-Lat, a 15-ton, 2,000-year-old statue that once guarded the temple of al-Lat, in honor of a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess. And National Geographic is reporting that militants have placed explosive devices around the ancient ruins.

Michael Danti, co-director of the Syrian Heritage Initiative at the American Schools of Oriental Research, told National Geographic that the ongoing destruction wreaked by Islamic State militants represents "the worst cultural heritage crisis since World War II."

Likewise, at a speech before the Royal United Services Institute in London on Thursday, UNESCO chief Irina Bokova said the ravaging is unparalleled.

"This deliberate destruction is not only continuing, it is happening on a systematic basis," she said. "The looting of archaeological sites and museums, in Iraq particularly, has reached an industrial scale of destruction."

Associated Press

Six smuggled archaeological pieces that Islamic State militants say came from Palmyra, Syria. These were later shown being smashed on camera. The image has been verified by the Associated Press.

Six smuggled archaeological pieces that Islamic State militants say came from Palmyra, Syria. These were later shown being smashed on camera. The image has been verified by the Associated Press.

UNESCO General Manager Irina Bokowa speaks at the 39th meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Bonn, Germany, on June 29.

UNESCO General Manager Irina Bokowa speaks at the 39th meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Bonn, Germany, on June 29.

(Marius Becker / European Pressphoto Agency)

All of this is in keeping with the group's austere vision of a pure Islamic caliphate, one that is free of idolatrous objects -- especially those dating to the pre-Islamic era or those strongly identified with the Shiite Islam. (Islamic State militants are Sunni.)

But as the group destroys ancient sites, there are also reports that militants are trafficking in looted objects to fund its military campaigns. An eye-opening article by Rachel Shabi in the Guardian reports that looted artifacts may already be turning up in London antiquities shops.

"What's certain is that, while [the Islamic State] grimly documents its destruction of UNESCO sites such as Nimrud," she wrote, "profiteering from plundered antiquities has helped make it the most cash-rich terror group in the world."

Many of these looted goods, she reported, travel overland through Lebanon and Turkey before arriving in Switzerland or Germany, where they are laundered and fake paper trails created, before landing in the principal antiquities markets of London and New York.

To collectors interested in snatching up some of these ancient artifacts, Near East specialist Mark Altaweel says to think very carefully about what these purchases might be supporting.

"These are blood antiquities," he told the Guardian. "What might work more is to say that this is funding death."